Telling them that the world is a safe, happy place. I lied. In my defense, it was easy to get away with that sort of thing back then, with no real Internet available. All I had to do was keep the TV off.

But they seemed so harmless...

Making them eat baby carrots with almost every meal, because I'm too lazy to prepare other vegetables (and too busy watching "Call Me Maybe" videos). I'm sure, 20 years from now, we will find out that baby carrots are bad for us. My grandchildren will probably have 9 heads. Each.

Indoctrinating them, musically speaking, with Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers and Billy Joel. That is pretty much all they know of popular music ("Call Me Maybe" excepted); and I am well aware that, when they get to college, they will appear to be complete freaks. 'Tis a small price to pay, however, for my being able to live without Justin Bieber...

So tell me, readers, how have you ruined your children's lives? Spill it.

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*Playing the Newsboys' Breakfast Song at full volume to wake them up ("When the toast is burned and all the milk has turned, and Capt'n Crunch is waving farewell... when 'the big one' finds you may this song remind you that they don't serve breakfast in hell!") ... although I really ought to start using your Groundhog Day wake-up call...*Raising them on old music (note to self: play more Billy Joel but skip "Captain Jack")*Not buying baby carrots anymore and making them wash, peel, and cut their own*Sleeping while they get up, make their own breakfasts and pack their own lunches because *I* sleep through my own alarm.*Taking them camping in a severe thunderstorm. (MusicMan didn't talk to us for nearly 18 hours!)

Hm, No Xbox, no COD, waking them up with "Romp and stomp, it's daylight in the swamp," not letting them have their own phone, not letting them play Pop Warner football. I'm a pretty bad mom. But you might be doing a worse job.

I think the worst thing I did was being part of the organizing and supervisory committee for virtually every rite-of-passage event. In my defense, and as I explained to them many times, if the get-er-done contingent didn't put on these events, there'd be no place for me to ruin your life with my presence :)

No kids for me, but one of my friends deserves an honorable mention for teaching her daughter 'Rippy the Gator goes Chomp Chomp Chomp' (in which small children are eaten, if you haven't encountered it) and then sending her daughter off to teach it to all her little preschool friends.

Oh, where to begin... No TV, no cell phone, no high-speed internet, regular bedtimes, teeth brushing and hand washing for starters. No middle school dances and NO WAY to joining cheer-leading. But YES to my chaperoning out-of-state school band trips! It's funny, though. A week or so ago we had a real cold snap and Critter called to tell me that all over the college campus kids were running around in tiny skirts and shorts and "Thank you, Mom, for teaching me how to dress properly for the cold!"

I made up my own "wake up" song for the 13-y-o boy -- it runs generally to the tune of Alexander's Ragtime Band. "Get outta bed! Get outta bed! Get outta bed, you sleepy head! The sun is up, the sky is blue. The birds got up and so should YOUUUUUUUUUU!" Redux. Way too perky...

Besides that, generally singing in public and being "too old" to be his mom. POW!

Ooh. And I don't buy him "everything". He gets money by being a productive member of Team Verge, and he has to Save. His. Money. What a drag! But I gotta say, he has become very resourceful with his purchases.

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6 children, 1 husband (I'm boring that way). Here are the kids by name and age, to make it easy on you:
Theo (26), Anna (24), David (20), Brian (17), Rachel (15), and Susie (12, and now taller than I am).
No pictures, no real names, as my husband is totally paranoid. In a cute sort of way, of course...